TV presenter Charlotte Smith is to return to BBC1 show Countryfile for the first time since a number of regulars were dropped, leading to an age discrimination ruling against the corporation.

She was one of four older female faces on the programme who were axed in 2009, leading to claims of ageism.

Smith's colleague Miriam O'Reilly, another of the presenters who was dropped, went on to win a landmark employment tribunal ruling against the BBC which decided she had been ditched because of her age.

Also dropped at the same time were Michaela Strachan and Juliet Morris.

Smith will be the first of the four women to return to the Sunday night programme. The BBC said she will stand in for the programme's investigative reporter Tom Heap while he is on holiday.